Dating Hispanic: Disastrous Family Meetings

Dating a Latino or a Latina, like any other relationship, has its ups and downs. Keeping the balance between both Latino and American cultures can be a little tricky, but it doesn't mean you'll never be happy.

When dating a Latino or a Latina, the most anxious part would be meeting la Familia, and many readers could agree to that! There's a lot of "educating" one must do when your significant other is white or from a different race, and honestly, all that explaining can be so taxing.

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Here are some hilarious (and sometimes unfortunate) stories shared by Latinos/Latinas:

Lights, Camera... Not

My mami is a very old-fashioned Dominicana. Like all moms, she was excited about my senior prom...until she saw my date--he was African-American. Instead of taking the pictures, she was so anxious to snap, she just put the camera down and started to do chores! I was expecting her to at least shake his hand! My sister ended up taking the pictures that day. Years later, she is now more open-minded about me dating outside my race.

-Jennifer, New Jersey, 24

Beer and Chicken Hearts

I come from a very traditional, proud Brazilian family. So it's no wonder the first time I brought my African-American boyfriend to meet my family, we were having a huge cookout. My father and all of his friends kept offering my guy beer (it was barely 1 pm), and when he said he didn't drink alcohol, they looked at him like he was nuts. My dad said, "Aren't you, 18?" To top it off, my sister offered him some chicken hearts on a skewer. When he found out what they were, his eyes nearly popped out of his face, and he blurted out, "You killed ten chickens just to eat their hearts?!" Long story short, he tried it (Brazilian families don't take no for an answer when it comes to food) and ended up loving it!

-Stephany, Atlanta, 21

How's My Spanish?

I had been teaching my Caucasian boyfriend how to speak Spanish, and even though he sounded like a total gringo, I still cheered him on. We went to Miami to meet my family, and when we got there, he shook my Puerto Rican step dad's hand and said, "Hola! Buenos Dias!" My stepdad just stared for a second and replied, "It's nice to meet you. Don't worry, we speak English!"

-Ariana, Miami, 25

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A Steve by Any Other Name

My mother, who was born and raised in Mexico, went through this phase where she thought every white guy's name was Steve; I have no idea why!!! So when I brought home this Caucasian guy I was dating, sure enough, she was like, "Nice to meet you...Steve." His name was Mark! Later, when I tried to explain, he totally didn't buy it. He thought I was cheating!!

-Maria, Chicago, 22

Arroz con Tomate?

In Brazilian Portuguese, the word tomate is pronounced sort of like "too-much." I brought my Caucasian guy home to have dinner, and my mother filled his plate with rice. He started to tell her, "that is enough, that's too much," and she said, "No tomate, this is called Arroz." She then asked me why he liked his rice with tomatoes. They were both lost, and I had double explaining to do!

-Dirce, Los Angeles, 27

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